SWISS CHARD

A few people have asked me about Swiss chard so I thought I'd give you some information on it and a couple of recipes.  I never tried Swiss chard before I went to the farm.  I'm not the type of person who will pick up some strange veggie in the supermarket.  But when it came in our share I decided to try it.

 The Swiss chard we got looks a lot like this picture.  It reminds me of rhubarb.  But unlike rhubarb it can have red, white or yellow stems.  Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, but Swiss chard is not.

Swiss chard is in the spinach family.  It's a little more bitter than spinach, but when it is cooked the flavor mellows somewhat.

This is the way I usually make my Swiss chard:

Simple Swiss Chard

Prep time:  10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Servings:  2

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 large red onion diced (or 4 cloves of garlic minced)

1 bunch Swiss chard, stalks discarded, leaves cut into wide ribbons

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the onion or garlic (or both) and cook until tender, about 2 minutes.  Add the Swiss chard and balsamic vinegar.  Cook and stir until the chard is wilted and tender, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Here is another recipe.  I found it on Cooks.com.  I can't vouch for it because I am making it tonight for the first time.  But it sounds easy and good.

Braised Swiss Chard

Ingredients:

1 bunch Swiss chard

3 tablespoons virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small can of tomato sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Clean Swiss chard with water.  Cut off stems.  Do not dry leaves, allow moisture to remain after washing.

In a skillet, braise the garlic in the olive oil until golden.  Add Swiss chard, braise until wilted.  Add tomato sauce.

Cook for 10 minutes over low heat.

Salt and pepper to taste.

I'll let you know how this turns out.  Oh, by the way, the stems are edible, but they will never get as tender as the leaves, so I just discard them.

SPRINGTIME FLOWERS

Joe often buys me flowers.  When we went to the supermarket last week, he told me to pick out what I would like since the flowers from Valentine's Day were gone.  Here's what I got.

 It doesn't show up that well, but the carnations are light yellow.  I think they look good in my blue vase.

Yesterday I took a look at my yard.  I really have to get out there and start cleaning it up after the long winter.  I was really happy with what I saw out there.

The tulips are poking their leaves up through the ground.

 Here's the beginning of the hyacinths.  Can't wait till they bloom.

 The daffodils are the tallest.  You can see a little iris coming up too.

After the long snowy winter we've had this warms my heart.  A few more weeks and my yard will be alive with color.

FARM SATURDAY

Yesterday was a busy day, so I didn't have a chance to post.  Let me catch you up with the farm first.  The theme was "Burger Time!"

We got some beautiful Swiss chard, 1/2 lb. crimini mushrooms, 2 lbs. red onions, 4 brioche rolls, Homemade strawberry jam, sharp cheddar cheese, 2 lemon yogurts, 1 dozen eggs, and 1 lb. of grass-fed, humanely killed ground beef.

I have a bad habit of putting the food away and forgetting about it.  The rolls get hard, the meat goes bad...  So I made burgers  for dinner last night.  The meat was so good.  It was more flavorful than the beef I get from the supermarket.  The red onions were just right, too.  Not real hot.  The rolls were great for the burgers.  Yum, yum.

I also bought some lettuce plants.  I am going to put them in my earth box in the yard so we can have some fresh lettuce whenever we want it.  I got "Red Sails" (on the left) and "Buttercrunch" (on the right).  Red Sails is a leaf lettuce and Buttercrunch makes a head.

After the farm Joe was hungry so we stopped at McDonald's.  The line was so long.  We waited and waited.  Finally we left and went to Sonic.  He had a couple of hot dogs, but I just had a lemon slush.  I LOVE lemon slush.  Every Friday last summer I treated myself to one for making it through a week of work.  Lemon slush is my friend.  And this one was great.  Now I feel like summer is on its way.

In the afternoon Joe and I went to his step-mom's to return a bunch of his dad's clothes she had given Joe to look through and take what he wanted.  She asked if we could take her to Franklin Mills Mall, so we did.  I wanted to go to the store "Second Avenue" which is a high end thrift store.  Some of the stuff is used, a lot is new with tags, and all is very cheap.  Since I lost so much weight a lot of my clothes just hang on me.  I got 3 pair of pants, 4 tops, and a pair of jeans for Joe for $38.  I tried on the pants and made sure they all fit.  However, all the fitting rooms were full and there were lines when I got the tops.  I was getting really tired by then and I didn't want to wait so I took a chance on the tops.  Two fit and two don't.  Of course it's the two silk ones I really wanted for dressing up that don't fit.  I can't take them back, either.  So hopefully I can find someone they fit (or lose weight so they fit me!).  But that still is not bad.

I did a little too much yesterday and wore myself out, so I plan on taking it easy after church today.  I like my Sundays.